Friday, August 27, 2010

I've been meaning to go through the landscapes I shot when I was in Singapore earlier this year and finally got around to having a look at them.

Earlier (back in April) I posted my inspiration shots. The earlier shots were taken from a moving bus as I was trying to figure out what kind of project I wanted to shoot in Singapore. This meant they were more like snapshots. Below are my more considered shots.

My interest lies in abstracting the landscape and making it appear more graphic through my photography.The buildings and landscape of Singapore held a certain beauty for me although it took me a while to find it. This is due to Singapore being so 'created' and commercial, which is not typically inspiring for me.

I shot Larry Tee the other week. Even if you haven't heard the name Larry Tee, I'm sure you will have heard some of his music or remixes, particularly if you are a fan of electro music like me. Here's some background:

Larry Tee hails from Atlanta, Georgia where he was friends with REM and his first group, the Fans, produced the B-52s' first independent single “Rock Lobster/52 Girls.” He moved to NYC with fellow Atlantans, RuPaul and Lady Bunny and quickly took over the NYC club scene with his epic party Love Machine. He started and named the infamous DISCO 2000 of Party Monster movie fame, DJ'ed the ROXY weekly, and co-wrote the Billboard Top 40 song Rupaul's “Supermodel (You Better Work).” In 1997 Larry Tee decided to get clean from drugs and alcohol and decided to re-examine his life and career. He turned to music for inspiration and championed a new sound and movement which became the Electroclash phenomena. He created the term “Electroclash” for his festivals in 2001/2002 (it's in the Oxford English Dictionary) which helped launch the careers of Scissor Sisters, Felix Da Housecat, 2 Many DJs/Soulwax, Peaches and many more. Larry has just moved to East London and has launched a new club night in Shoreditch.

I met Larry at his new apartment, just off Brick Lane. Whilst chatting and discussing the shot and what we could do, Larry showed me his inspiration wall. Feeling inspired, the wall became the background for our shoot.

I loved hanging out with Larry and after hearing his stories, have since started my own inspiration wall.

Here are a few sample selects.....I'm sure my favourite will soon be posted on my website (www.alexgracephoto.com).....

Monday, August 9, 2010

I recently shot Robert Farrar, a playwright who has written novels, stories and songs for radio, TV, cinema and stage.It was great to shoot Robert.We wanted to portray the anxiety of reading the Review pages and hoping for good critiques....Robert really got into the role, although I hope he doesn't spend every Saturday morning in such a state!

And here are some of the behind the scenes from my shoot with Lotan. Lots of Police milling about in the background and a very interested passer by stopping to watch.

Luckily the Police didn't catch us out. I have a feeling, since the Queen was in residence and we shot during the changing of the guard, they might not have been too impressed. I asked a Policeman before we started shooting if they would object to a bit of nakedness but he said it could be seen as disrespectful to the Queen.Personally, I would like to think that perhaps the Queen might have liked it, I mean something has to float her boat and it makes a change from boring tourists with cameras.

Donal Coonan is an actor, writer and presenter, who is most notable for presenting Channel 4's web show 'This is a Knife'Below are some out-takes from my recent shoot with Donal. He is currently working on a comedy sketch where he dresses up as a jockey so we thought it would be quite amusing to have some 'horses' chasing after him......